


The Only Gift Worth Giving

by boymeetswerewolf (wolvesinthewater)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Party, M/M, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5418803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolvesinthewater/pseuds/boymeetswerewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia hosts a Secret Santa Christmas party and Stiles decides to use the opportunity to let Derek know how he truly feels about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Gift Worth Giving

"Pick a name," Lydia said, holding a glass jar filled with paper cards out to Stiles, Allison and Scott.

"What's this for?" Allison asked, looking at the jar curiously.

"My Secret Santa Christmas Party, of course," Lydia said, tilting her head to one side. "Everyone who RSVP'd picks a name and then buys a gift for that person. Easy!"

"Okay," Allison said warily as she picked a name from the jar. "I hope I get someone easy to shop for."

Stiles shifted uncomfortably in his cafeteria seat before reaching into the jar and pulling out a card. He waited until Scott had picked one too before opening his. Scrawled with red ink in Lydia's handwriting was the one name he'd dreaded to see: Derek Hale. He quickly closed it again, hoping no one spotted the look of terror on his face.

"Who did you get?" Scott asked them both eagerly.

"Don't say!" Lydia interjected. "It's Secret Santa for a reason, Scott."

Allison laughed and quickly tucked the card she picked into her pocket. "I know exactly what to get."

"Great!" Lydia smiled before turning on her heel to leave. "I will see you all in class. Happy shopping!"

"Great..." Stiles echoed with much less enthusiasm as he looked back at the name on his card. "Anybody want to trade?"

"No!" Scott and Allison both said at the same time.

-

"Can we go home now?" Scott whined. "We've been at the mall for ages and I'm supposed to meet Allison in an hour."

"So? That's plenty of time," Stiles replied as they walked into a sports store.

"You haven't even bought one gift," Scott protested. "It took me ten minutes to get mine."

"I like to put a little more effort into gift giving, okay?"

"If you'd just tell me who you picked I could help you find something."

Stiles sighed as he studied a shelf stacked with basketballs. "We're not supposed to tell each other."

"Come on, I told you I got Isaac," Scott pleaded. "I'm dying of curiosity here!"

"You bought a scarf," Stiles replied. "Anyone would've guessed you got Isaac, you didn't even have to tell me. He's literally the easiest person to shop for. Scarves are like doggie treats to him. Buy him one and he'll love you forever."

"I got lucky," Scott admitted. "Imagine if I got Derek. I wouldn't know what get him in a million years. Speaking of Derek, is that him outside?" Scott said suddenly, looking out of the store.

"Where!?" Stiles jumped and bumped into the store shelf, causing the basketballs on the top to fall down around him.

"Ha!" Scott exclaimed. "I knew you got him."

Stiles narrowed his gaze at his friend. "You tricked me. There was no Derek, was there?"

"Hey, what's going on back there?" The cashier yelled from the back of the store.

"Let's get out of here," Stiles said and hurried off with Scott close on his heels.

-

The night of Lydia's party finally arrived and Stiles felt sick to his stomach as he drove to pick up Scott. As he climbed into the jeep, Scott looked at the backseat. Next to Stiles's backpack were stacked six carefully wrapped boxes of various sizes, each one with a red bow stuck on top.

"Are those all for Derek?" Scott asked as he looked at Stiles who was nervously drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Maybe," Stiles drawled as he put the jeep in drive and pulled away from Scott's house.

"You like him, don't you? The only other person you've ever been this nervous about was Lydia," Scott remarked. "But that was, like, years ago."

Stiles remained silent for a minute before replying. "So what if I do?"

"It's cool," Scott said. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"What, you don't think he could like me back?"

"I didn't say that."

"But it's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

"Dude, calm down..."

Stiles suddenly stopped the jeep in the middle of the road. "This was a bad idea. I don't think I should go."

"Whoa, just wait a second. Forget what I said, I'm sorry," Scott said. "Besides, you can't back out now. Lydia would kill you. We're already late!"

Stiles took a deep breath and slowly inched the jeep forward. "Okay," he finally said and returned to driving at a normal speed. "Just shut up about Derek."

They drove the rest of the way in awkward silence, Stiles's mood growing more gloomy the closer they got to Lydia's house.

"Aren't you going to bring any of those?" Scott asked and pointed at the boxes when Stiles parked the car and got out.

"No, I have the one I want," Stiles said and tapped a small square shaped outline in his jeans pocket.

"All right," Scott replied carefully.

The front doors were open and music spilled out into the yard as Stiles and Scott walked up the steps. Scott spotted Allison and went in to greet her. Stiles stood still for a moment, taking a breath before stepping inside. As usual, a ton of people showed up for Lydia's Christmas party. The living room was crowded, along with every other room in the house. Stiles walked over to the refreshments table and looked at two identical bowls filled with eggnog. One was almost untouched and the other had dipped just over half way.

"That's the one with no bourbon in it."

Stiles looked up and saw Danny standing beside him pointing to the full bowl. He glanced at the pair of felt deer antlers on top of Danny's head. "Those are cute," Stiles said.

"Thanks," Danny replied as he scooped two cups from the bourbon bowl. "Matt gave it to me. He turned out to be my Secret Santa. Did you find out who yours is yet?"

"No, I just got here," Stiles said. "I had to pick up Scott and we ran a little late."

"Then you'd better go find your person. They're probably waiting for their gift," Danny smiled. "You know, this stuff is really tasty, you should try some."

"I think you're right," Stiles said and hastily grabbed the second cup from Danny's hand, downing it all in one go. He grimaced slightly at the taste of the bourbon as it went down. "Wow, that's... strong. Do you know where Derek is?"

Danny's eyes widened. "You're Derek's Secret Santa? Okay, he's over there by the pool, but you should probably—"

Stiles didn't wait for Danny to finish. His eyes searched the pool area outside and found Derek clad in a bright red holiday sweater talking to Jackson. Deciding it was now or never, Stiles marched across the courtyard over to them. He was all fired up, even if the bourbon hadn't hit his system yet, but as soon as Jackson and Derek saw him approaching them, his steps faltered. He was about to turn around when Derek called his name.

"Hey, Stiles! I've been looking for you."

Stiles stopped in his tracks as Derek left Jackson and came over to him. Suddenly all he could focus on was the loud Christmas music playing from the house and the cold air nipping at his ears as he watched Derek walking closer.

"Um, hi," Stiles said, his eyes distracted by the pattern on Derek's knitwear.

Derek looked at him and laughed. "You've got an eggnog moustache."

"Oh god," Stiles replied, suddenly feeling mortified and wiped frantically at his upper lip.

"Don't worry, I'm sure no one else noticed," Derek reassured him, but Stiles was blushing bright red and turned his face away from Derek. When he didn't say anything for a few moments, Derek asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Stiles replied, shaking his head and trying to get himself out of his embarassment. He turned back to Derek and said, "So, Merry Christmas. I'm your Secret Santa." Stiles reached into his pocket and took out the little square box. It was wrapped with a red ribbon and he fidgeted with it before handing it over to Derek. "Before you open that..."

Derek took the little box with caution and looked at Stiles. "Yeah?"

"So, we've been sitting next to each other in Chemistry for a while now, right?"

Derek nodded slowly, not sure what Stiles was trying to say. "Yes? We've been lab partners for the last two years..."

"But we're not really friends, right? We don't usually hang out together unless it's with Lydia and Jackson. Or unless it's for lab stuff."

"I suppose you're right, but just because we don't hang out a lot doesn't mean we're not friends. Why are you asking me this?"

Stiles exhaled a long breath, feeling utterly defeated. He was trying to explain something to Derek that he didn't even fully understand himself, but he was just making a mess of it. His mind was racing and thinking that maybe he should give Derek one of the other presents he brought along, but Derek was already holding the small square box. There was no turning back now.

Derek was scowling at Stiles, something he did very well, especially when it involved chemistry formulas. "I don't understand. Should I not open this?"

"No, it's cool. I think you should open it. It's just that you might not want to be my lab partner anymore after you do. Anyway, I'm going to go now." Stiles turned away from Derek's utterly perplexed expression and made his way through the house as fast as he could. There was a lump in his throat that he tried very hard to swallow but just couldn't manage to. As he got to the jeep and put his key in the door, he heard Derek call out.

"Stiles, wait!"

But Stiles didn't want to wait. His heart was pounding too fast, his mouth was dry and all he wanted to do was run away. He got into the jeep and as he was about to slam the door shut, Derek's hand grabbed the corner.

"Wait," he said, his voice almost angry as he held the door open. "Don't go."

Stiles looked at Derek's other hand and saw he'd opened the box. Inside was a little note scribbled in Stiles's handwriting that read, "I like you. Merry Christmas." It was the most sincere gift that Stiles could think of to give Derek.

"Why are you running away?" Derek demanded. "Because of this?"

"Because I'm embarassed!" Stiles replied, his voice shaking. "It's how I feel and have felt for a while. I don't know why I thought being honest would make such a great Christmas gift. It's selfish and sentimental but I couldn't stop myself and if you didn't feel the same I—"

"Stiles, stop," Derek said calmly and put his hand on Stiles's knee.

Derek reached into his back pocket and pullled out two movie tickets, handing them to Stiles as he leaned in closer on the jeep's door.

Stiles looked at the tickets and blinked. For a moment he forgot about everything that was going on as he realised what the tickets were. "Whoa, these are the new Star Wars tickets! How did you get these? I've been dying to go but the first week's all been sold out."

Derek just smiled at him. "Merry Christmas, Stiles. They're for you. I'm your Secret Santa."

Stiles didn't know what to say. He'd been so caught up in trying to figure out what to give Derek that he completely forgot that someone had pulled his name from the jar as well. That it would be Derek wasn't something that had occurred to him.

"Wow, Derek. Thank you. I don't know what to say..."

"Say you'll go see Star Wars with me," Derek replied with a sly smile.

Stiles was speechless for a few seconds before he stammered out, "W-wait, what? You want to go with me?  But you've never even seen Star Wars!"

"I know," Derek admitted. "But you've been talking about it all year and I— Look, Stiles, I know it took a lot for you to give me this," he said, holding up the square box Stiles gave him. He looked away from Stiles for a moment and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I know because it took a lot for me to get you those tickets. The truth is I like you too, I just haven't been able to find a way to say it. That's why I got those. We don't have that much in common, so I thought the movie could be an excuse for us to spend some time together outside of school. I just wasn't ready to come right out and say it yet."

Stiles couldn't believe what he was hearing. His heart soared and he grinned from ear to ear. Somewhere deep down inside he'd hoped that Derek would like him back, but he never thought he'd actually hear Derek say it. "I don't know what to say..."

"You've said that twice now," Derek grinned. "Do you mind if I get in?" He pointed at the passenger seat.

"Of course not!" Stiles quickly unlocked the passenger seat door and watched Derek as he got inside the jeep. They sat in silence for a few moments, neither quite knowing what to say to the other.

"I'm not really in the mood for going back to the party," Derek admitted.

"If you want, we could do something else?" Stiles suggested.

Derek thought for a second. "Maybe you could tell me what Star Wars is all about? I've heard you talk about it in lab a hundred times, but I think I need a thorough education."

"There's so much to tell you," Stiles said excitedly as he turned in his seat towards Derek who was looking at him intently. "So," Stiles began, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

 


End file.
